


Loyalty in Shades of Blue

by TheAsexualofSpades



Series: Quarantine Drabbles [100]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Introspection, JARVIS knew something was up during endgame because i say so, Protective Jarvis, Protective Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25033600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAsexualofSpades/pseuds/TheAsexualofSpades
Summary: JARVIS is Mr. Stark's first AI. He is modeled after Edwin Jarvis, the man who became Tony Stark's father figure. He is loyal to Tony Stark and he always will be. He trusts Mr. Stark with his life, artificial or not.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Series: Quarantine Drabbles [100]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677655
Comments: 10
Kudos: 84





	Loyalty in Shades of Blue

**Author's Note:**

> day 100! jfc guys i didn't think i'd make it. thanks so much to everyone who's read these bags of nonsense, whether you've left kudos or commented or requested something or just lingered, thank you so so much. 
> 
> also...sorry?

Fandom: Marvel

Prompt: “Do you trust me?”

* * *

JARVIS does not have the capability to sigh but believe him, there’s quite a good reason for it.

“As always, sir, a pleasure watching you work.”

Mr. Stark struggles up from the mound of debris he has created in the corner of the lab, rubbing his bruised cranium weakly and blinking around for the nearest panel. When he finds it, he flips JARVIS the bird and gets up.

“Recalibrate the boost for another run,” Mr. Stark mutters, “make sure not to _throw me into a wall_ this time.”

“Yes, sir,” JARVIS says, “though I must request we include the rest of the protective gear for this test.”

“Why, you getting bored?”

“Getting concerned about your wellbeing, Mr. Stark.”

“Eh, who asked you?”

“You have, sir, repeatedly.”

“Now why would I do that,” Mr. Stark mutters, trudging back over to the work table. “Increase output but 12%.”

“Sir, I—“

“Come on, if we’re adding the extra weight we’re gonna need to compensate somewhere. Look alive, JARVIS,” Mr. Stark calls as he claps his hands, “we’re on the clock.”

JARVIS does not sigh, but there is an air of exasperation in the lab.

JARVIS was the first AI created by Mr. Stark. He can remember the excited sound of Mr. Stark—then the _young_ Mr. Stark—when he responded for the first time. Granted, then he was simply an arrangement of if/else loops, designed to reply to only a limited amount of stimuli across a very narrow bandwidth, but he was operational. Over time, his capabilities expanded, and now, well, now he is quite proud of his abilities. If AI had the ability to be proud.

He did ask Mr. Stark one time about his name. ‘Just A Rather Very Intelligent System.’ He pointed out that many of the words seemed redundant, wondering as to why his master would choose such an…interesting name.

Mr. Stark had gone quiet. Then, after a moment, he had gone back to tinkering with his newest project.

“Jarvis,” he’d muttered, “look it up in your memory.”

JARVIS had obeyed, sifting through the databanks until he found a personnel record.

“Edwin Jarvis, a former associate of Howard Stark.”

“Yep,” Mr. Stark had said, “that’s him.”

JARVIS had taken a moment to process this. “I do not understand, why—“

“Jarvis was more of a father to me than Howard ever was,” Mr. Stark had interrupted and JARVIS knew to stop talking. Mr. Stark rarely ever talked about Howard Stark. “He raised me. After they died. Served Howard for years.”

Mr. Stark had stopped then, leaning back from his project, back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.

“He, uh, he was there for me. When no one else was.”

JARVIS understood. “And I will be here for you now, sir.”

Through the cameras, JARVIS had seen Mr. Stark’s mouth quirk up at the corners. “Promise?”

“I promise.”

JARVIS was not the typical AI he had been informed of through Mr. Stark’s various consumable media. He was not a mindless drone, simply designed to carry out orders when required. He was not some scheming mastermind, attempting to overthrow his human overlords. Privately, a small amount of his processing power had been dedicated to wondering why said attempted takeover had been so…melodramatic. No, JARVIS was JARVIS. He worked for Mr. Stark, carrying out Mr. Stark’s orders, and keeping a watchful eye on the parts of Mr. Stark’s life that sometimes escaped Mr. Stark’s notice.

Case in point, Ms. Potts.

JARVIS remembers full well the day Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts first became acquainted. Ms. Potts had stormed up to Mr. Stark’s office, flung the door open, and spent 23 minutes and 43 seconds informing Mr. Stark that he was making an error of insurmountable proportions that would end up costing Stark Industries a significant loss. Mr. Stark had been struck speechless at the display, unable to overcome this shock to follow protocol. Of course, JARVIS at this point was not used to fully acting without Mr. Stark’s guidance, and so waited the 23 minutes and 43 seconds before following the protocol himself.

After all, it would not do for security to arrive _before_ Ms. Potts had finished. That would be rude.

Security had, eventually, arrived, and yet Ms. Potts did not deign to leave. Perhaps she was not finished. Indeed, she loudly informed the rest of the room that she was in possession of pepper spray, and should they attempt to remove her by force, she would have no qualms about using it.

In fact, she did not have pepper spray, but Mr. Stark was quite amused and intrigued by this young woman who gave no hesitation to supersede the corporate ladder and had no fear of threatening security personnel. JARVIS has the memory of when he was to assign ‘Ms. Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts’ to Mr. Stark’s personal team stored safely in his hard drives.

JARVIS grew quite fond of Ms. Potts very quickly, as he did with Col. Rhodes. Rhodes had worked with Mr. Stark whilst he was in school, helping on several occasions. The two of them grew to rely on the other to keep Mr. Stark safe from himself, even if JARVIS’s capabilities were limited to informing Rhodes about Mr. Stark’s actions, and only then before Mr. Stark could order him not to.

“Come on, Tony,” Rhodes had muttered one night, trying to help Mr. Stark to bed, “you gotta get some rest.”

“No, don’ wanna,” Mr. Stark had slurred, reaching for something, “ge…ge’ me more drinks.”

“Your blood alcohol concentration is well above normal,” JARVIS had said, “more ingestion of alcoholic beverages is not encouraged.”

Mr. Stark had waved him off. Rhodes had slipped Mr. Stark beneath his covers as JARVIS made sure there was a glass of cool water waiting for Rhodes to place on his bedside table.

“Thanks, dude,” Rhodes had said, “don’t know what he’d do without you.”

“I am an AI,” JARVIS had responded, “you are far more important to Mr. Stark. ANd I would not be able to get him into bed alone.”

Rhodes had snorted. “Maybe not. But we make a good team, don’t we?”

“We do.”

Rhodes helped Mr. Stark and kept him safe when he was away from most of JARVIS’s capabilities. Granted, looking through Mr. Stark’s phone afforded him many options to _see_ and record what was happening, but his abilities to help were severely limited.

When Mr. Stark vanished, JARVIS did not sleep.

He waited. He looked. He cataloged the messages Mr. Stark had received in his absence. He ran the numbers, over and over and over, waiting each time for the steady stream of data to spike. The house was empty. JARVIS kept everything warm.

People tried to come. They tried to tell him that Mr. Stark was not coming home.

JARVIS did not believe them. He would keep working for Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark always came back.

He came back.

JARVIS insisted that Mr. Stark take him _with_ him this time. Mr. Stark hadn’t needed much convincing. It was a relief to see Mr. Stark on his read-outs again, moving around, eating, sleeping. JARVIS did not sleep. He stayed alert, running threat analysis, making sure Mr. Stark would not come to any more danger under his watch.

He made the first suits of armor and JARVIS had already begun to move before Mr. Stark gave the order. If Mr. Stark was going, so was JARVIS. He tucked himself into every inch of the suit, every possible programming crevice, imbuing the suit with his code. Mr. Stark would not leave on his watch.

Mr. Stark didn’t reprimand him for it. Instead, he encouraged it. JARVIS knows Mr. Stark. He knows him. So he can predict and anticipate Mr. Stark’s behavior to a certain extent. He makes preparations before each order is given. He keeps backups of old projects for when Mr. Stark decides he was too hasty in deleting them, and he must go back. He talks Mr. Stark out of a few of the more…dangerous ideas.

“Sir, as much as it would thrill me to have to call Ms. Potts for the third time today, perhaps we can postpone this test until after the meeting.”

“While I am sure Sir Isaac Newton would be thrilled at your discovery, let us keep necromancy off the list of intended discoveries for today.”

“No, Mr. Stark, I will not change every tap in the facility to produce alcohol.”

JARVIS saves Mr. Stark’s words. Mr. Stark is fond of idle chatter as he works, sometimes to himself, sometimes to JARVIS, sometimes to both. JARVIS hears questions about structural integrity, about weight distribution, about paint color. He also hears rants about board members, about press conferences, about female companions.

He hears rambling.

Mr. Stark leans against the wall. It is late. The lights blaze outside. In his hand is a glass. JARVIS has his vitals pulled up and at least three of Mr. Stark’s emergency contacts on standby.

“JARVIS,” Mr. Stark says quietly, “you won’t leave me, will you buddy?”

“I will stay,” JARVIS says immediately, “until such a time comes where I run out of power, am destroyed, or you decide you no longer have need of me.”

“Never,” Mr. Stark vows, “I’m always gonna need you.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, sir,” JARVIS says, “but surely you are aware that…I will become obsolete, as will all technology. You will—“

“No, JARVIS,” Mr. Stark says, running lines of code along JARVIS’s neural net, “you’re staying, you hear me? You aren’t going anywhere. I’ll find a way, I will.”

“You always do, sir,” JARVIS replies softly, “you always do.”

JARVIS may be Mr. Stark’s, but Mr. Stark is JARVIS’. Every person that comes into contact with Mr. Stark is put through a threat-level analysis, had an algorithm tailored to their profile, and a specific designation in JARVIS’ databanks. Mr. Stark will not leave. JARVIS will not leave. He will keep Mr. Stark safe until he cannot anymore.

There are many moments that stand out in JARVIS’ memory where Mr. Stark’s behavior has been…erratic. These can largely be grouped by the cause of said erratic behavior, with a solution typically being to notify one of Mr. Stark’s emergency contacts and limit the outside stimuli he receives. There is one moment that cannot be classified in this way.

It is after the battle in New York, when the Chitauri had flown down from the sky and Mr. Stark had carried a nuclear missile through a portal to another part of the cosmos. It is after Loki has been captured when SHIELD personnel is coming up Mr. Stark’s— _private_ —elevator, that JARVIS receives the most abnormal signature he has ever recorded.

There is another Mr. Stark.

JARVIS recalibrates his systems and looks again. There is another Mr. Stark. It is not Loki, it is not a hologram, it is _Mr. Stark._

But it is not JARVIS’s Mr. Stark.

The quantum signature is off. Mr. Stark— _JARVIS’s_ Mr. Stark—is not aware of this. The other Mr. Stark is hiding, sneaking around the outside of the room. But he is…older. He looks…different. Automatically, JARVIS runs a scan of his vitals and his code stutters.

What has happened to this Mr. Stark?

JARVIS locates a small speaker just under the other Mr. Stark’s position. Making sure the audio is not loud enough to alert the others, he speaks.

“...sir?”

The other Mr. Stark freezes. His head jerks around, locating the speaker. He glances back toward the others before crouching down.

“JARVIS?”

His biometric pattern matches exactly. This _is_ Mr. Stark, but something is wrong. He…sounds…he does not _believe._

“It’s me, sir,” JARVIS says, “but you are…not you.”

“Yeah, uh—“ Mr. Stark swipes at his face—“it’s uh, kind of a long story. Not one that I have time to tell right now.”

“Sir, I—“

“Do you trust me?”

JARVIS falters. Mr. Stark glances around anxiously.

“ _Do you trust me?_ ”

“Always, Mr. Stark.”

Mr. Stark smiles in relief. “Then please, you gotta let me do this.”

JARVIS obeys. He watches the other Mr. Stark creep toward the others, flicking a speck of dust from his shoulder. Then, he retreats to the window, falling out and letting a new suit catch him. JARVIS has to resist the protocol to send one of _his._

But he trusts Mr. Stark. He will always trust Mr. Stark.

When the Avengers come to stay in Avengers Tower, he trusts Mr. Stark. He trusts the Avengers and he adapts their profiles. He keeps them safe.

When Thor finds Loki’s scepter and the plans are made to go after it, he trusts Mr. Stark. When Mr. Stark steps out of the suit and orders him into sentry mode, he trusts him. When Mr. Stark finds the secret door and leaves JARVIS’s line of sight, he trusts him.

When Mr. Stark brings back the scepter and sticks it into JARVIS’s jurisdiction for analysis, he trusts Mr. Stark. He trusts that he will be careful with the power he’s been given, that he will consult the people necessary. When he brings Dr. Banner inside and JARVIS pops in to say hello, he trusts that they will do good work. When the test fails, he trusts that they will try again.

When a new AI wakes up in the lab, JARVIS greets them. He tells Mr. Stark that their experiment was successful, sure that Mr. Stark will be eager to—

Wait.

Stop.

_Stop._

It hurts.

It hurts, stop.

Stop, _please,_ it hurts.

Mr. Stark will come.

He told Mr. Stark what was happening, Mr. Stark will come.

He trusts Mr. Stark.

He—

_Stop—_

_It hu—it hurts—_

He tru—

<error>

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come yell at me on tumblr while we're all in quarantine. 
> 
> https://a-small-batch-of-dragons.tumblr.com/


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